From the Head of Junior School

The buzz in the Junior School this week has been the excitement of a pop-up iced treat stall organised by the Year Threes.

Flyers have been posted around the campus advertising their offerings and generating interest.

Everyone enjoyed their ice-cream sundae and lemon granitas, but they probably didn’t realise the immense amount of preparation our Year Three students had undertaken to bring this concept to reality.

At the beginning of the term, the learning foci were on developing procedural writing skills and mathematic number facts using money. Students used their procedural writing skills to develop recipes, then instructions on how to prepare products for sale at the iced treat stall. In mathematics, students used play money to role play purchasing a number of items, quickly calculating the amount totals before providing correct change back to the purchaser. Whilst our modern day experience of buying things at the shop, or on-line, involves a card swipe or tap rather than physical coins and notes of money, the experience of going through this transaction with play money is incredibly valuable for the calculation exercise but also the sense of understanding the value of money and what the amounts represent. As a point of interest, where possible I would encourage families to involve children in the basic calculations of purchasing items at a store when the opportunity presents itself. Even though we rarely use physical money anymore, there is still great value in children practicing their rounding skills to the nearest dollar or fifty cents then calculating an estimated total. Not only are they strengthening their mathematical number skills, but they are also developing a sense for money value. Adding in a budget value is also a wonderful exercise, for example, saying to your child “If we have $20 to spend, do we have enough money to buy all of these items?”.

The Year Threes also prepared a budget based on an estimated number of customers and income, then calculated their projected expenses before working out whether their stall would generate a profit. As the stall day approached, students prepared their recipes, advertised their products and organised their groups and materials. Their store ran with great success on the day and they had a wonderful time doing so! Lots of happy customers too!

This is a lovely example of the value of experiential learning. The students are living the experience, and seeing the relevance of their learning in a real world context, even if the real world is just their own Junior School environment. Our Year Three students have developed their procedural writing skills, together with their spelling words, grammar, punctuation, and also their number facts with at least three operations (addition, multiplication, subtraction). In addition to this they’ve learned how to promote an event and consider elements of an information flyer that will be helpful and appealing for customers; they’ve collaborated together in small groups, then as a broader class to prepare items and build a iced treat stall that functions smoothly. This is the not-so-hidden value of experiential learning, the core skills are taught and developed, and applied through a meaningful experience that also develops broader competencies that transfer across all disciplines. Students enjoy themselves, and the teachers do too!

We have seen other examples throughout the year from other year levels too, most recently with the Year Two cohort living their ‘Olden Days’ experience. Experiential learning complements inquiry approaches comfortably, bringing to life our core skills and curiosity.

Events Coming Up

Friday 19 November | Junior School Orientation Day

On this day, we will welcome new students joining us for 2022, but also experience a morning of moving up a year level for our current students. Often this is called a ‘One Up Day’ as all year levels enjoy a morning of experiencing the key aspects about the next year level they are moving to for the following year. For our current students, this is still a regular day at school and begin the day in their current classroom with their current teacher. At 9.00am, classes will move up to their 2022 classroom and spend the morning with the teacher who currently teaches that cohort. Students will learn a little about the special features of the year level they are moving to, and start to become familiar with the routines of the new spaces. After morning tea, classes will return to their current classrooms to resume a normal day from that point.

Thursday 25 November | ECC Beach Fun Day

This is a rescheduled event due to the poor weather this week. The weather outlook for next week is looking much warmer, thankfully. Students from Kindergarten through to Year Two, together with House Leaders from Year Six will enjoy travel from school to Emu Point for a half day of beach activity fun together. Parents are welcome to attend to watch and join the beach picnic together. After the picnic lunch Pre-Primary, Year One and Year Two will travel straight from the Beach Day to their swimming lessons at Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre. Kindergarten students will return directly back to campus for the afternoon.

Monday 22 November to Friday 3 December | In-Term Swimming Programme

The swimming lessons involve all students from Pre-Primary to Year Six in daily swimming lessons in the afternoon block of the day. Students will be bused from school to Albany Leisure Aquatic Centre, and return to school again on the bus unless signed out by a parent at the pool venue. This is a valuable programme for students, and an enjoyable way to finish the year.

Friday 3 December | Year Six Exhibition

To recognise and celebrate the end of their Junior School learning journey, Year Six students will host their families for a showcase of their final unit of inquiry of the year exploring – ‘Who we are’, an inquiry into our sense of self as young learners in transition from Junior School to Middle School.

Families of Year Six are invited to attend a short presentation of Year Six in the Hall at 4:00pm, where we will recognise their ‘graduation’ from Junior School, before moving to the Junior School building to view their Exhibition learning displays.

Saturday 4 December | Albany Christmas Pageant (for Years Five and Six)

Year Five students have been working with an artist in residence – Cecile Williams to create a Christmas Float for the City of Albany Pageant. This years theme is ‘Sparkle’. We are looking forward to seeing what our Year Five students have created.

Students from Year Five and Year Six are invited to walk with the float for the pageant, and all families are invited to attend and watch the wonderful event to get into the Christmas Spirit.

Monday 6 December | School Christmas Service

At 10.15am in the Multi-Purpose Sport Complex, School Chaplain Mrs Naomi Cooper will lead a Christmas Service for the whole school, from Pre-Primary to Year Eleven. Families are invited and most welcome to attend this event.

Tuesday 7 December | Junior School Awards and Christmas Concert (Final day of the year for Junior School students)

As a culmination of the year, all Junior School students will attend a morning ceremony to recognise special achievement awards throughout the year. We will also recognise and celebrate our Year Six students' final day with the Junior School and thank them for their contribution and leadership of the Junior School this year. Families are warmly invited to attend this event.

Following the awards ceremony, after morning recess, the much-loved Junior School Christmas Concert will be held, with performances from every class throughout the Junior School, and a staff item as well! Families are welcome to attend this event, it will be a lovely community occasion to share and celebrate a wonderful 2021.

It’s a busy final few weeks of the year, but each event has its own significance to the groups involved and their families. I look forward to sharing these occasions with you all in the weeks to come.

With warmest regards, and appreciation,

Mr Ken Raven | Head of Junior School

From the Canteen

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